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28-Way Radeon GPU Comparison Under Linux

Posted by timothy on from the in-case-you're-a-bit-compulsive dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Phoronix has conducted a 28-way Radeon graphics card comparison under Linux that illustrates the differences among the open-source and closed-source graphics drivers."

14 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. I like... by elsurexiste · · Score: 2

    the fact that in TFA they say it's AMD comparison on Oktoberfest. These people don't take breaks!

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    1. Re:I like... by robthebloke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I like the way they decided to spread the article across 38 pages that each take a minute to load. Oh. Spoke too soon. Now it seems to be slashdotted. I'm guessing this means no one will be reading that article. It's phoronix though, so I'm guessing the rest of article will be something along the lines of:

      * Here's a test of lots of 3D graphics cards from AMD.
      * Now let's conduct a large series of 2D tests, all of which are entirely irrelevant for users of 3D graphics cards....
      * Conclusion: Could this be the year of linux on the desktop?

    2. Re:I like... by jedidiah · · Score: 2, Informative

      Just use Nvidia.

      Better 3D performance.
      Better monitor support.
      Stuff like VA-API is actually supported.
      Stuff like CUDA and OpenCL if you tend to blither on about Beowulf...

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    3. Re:I like... by nschubach · · Score: 2

      There's nothing worse than a page full of ads... except someone who tries to upsell their website in the article on a page full of ads.

      As a note before proceeding, anyone who wishes to view these results ad-free (Please no AdBlock or similar; Phoronix.com is run single-handedly and funded entirely by advertisements and Phoronix Premium. This article alone required more than 310 hours to complete at great expense.) and view the entire article on a single page, can do so by subscribing to Phoronix Premium. There's also the known trick of buying me a Maß of Augustiner at Oktoberfest or any other meet-up, where some have even earned a life-time Phoronix Premium membership.

      I don't even have the willpower to click through all the pages let alone read any more than the first/last page. I normally skip to the last one and see if they summed it up or if they use that space to try to generate more revenue. So as far as I can tell, they spent 310 hours on something that few people will read... because they are being pains in the ass.

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    4. Re:I like... by Tomato42 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Open AMD drivers are actually usable: KDE4 composing, XV acceleration, not to mention 2D performance.

      In fact, I'd say that the OSS drivers have (or at least had 8 months ago when I still struggled with fglrx) better 2D performance, If you have a 4096x1536 desktop you could actually count the seconds it took to move a window. So I'd say that 2D performance is actually more important than 3D performance. If I want to game I run the gaming OS anyway (for 3D intensive stuff).

    5. Re:I like... by elashish14 · · Score: 2

      What a dick response. Evidently, you opened the first page, and the only thing you looked at was the number of pages. Did you even read the last paragraph?

      As a note before proceeding, anyone who wishes to view these results ad-free (Please no AdBlock or similar; Phoronix.com is run single-handedly and funded entirely by advertisements and Phoronix Premium. This article alone required more than 310 hours to complete at great expense.) and view the entire article on a single page, can do so by subscribing to Phoronix Premium.

      If the multiple pages bothers you so much, then shell out for a subscription. If you don't want to do that, then just shut up and move on. Don't shit on someone else's hard work and complain that they don't give it to you totally for free.

      And why would anyone besides a total sociopath mod something like this up?

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    6. Re:I like... by Tomato42 · · Score: 2

      I'm using HD 4850 together with Xorg 1.10.3.901, mesa 7.11 and Linux 3.0. YMMV, but I've been using this (or with a bit earlier versions) setup for the past few months with dual-head setup and have had absolutely no performance problems as long as I stick to 2D (even with KDE4 composing). On my work machine I have an integrated AMD card and have used it with OSS drivers for the past year or more, there were occasional performance problems in the beginning but nothing major, now it's practically flawless, but it's using only two 1280x1024 screens. Even the mouse cursor corruption looks like is finally gone. Window resize is snappy, moving is instantaneous. There are only occasional rendering artifacts with resizing windows (past window content is shown), but it disappears as soon as the window is re-drawn, so it's at most 2, 3 frames at 60fps.

      I'd say that the OSS AMD drivers are at least on par with Intel GPU drivers now, feature- and stability-wise. If you don't play 3D games on Linux, don't even look at Catalyst drivers, the headaches they bring are just not worth it.

      There have been few additional AMD cards (mostly integrated ones or 3-4 years old) that I used with OSS drivers and haven't had any performance or configuration problems, but I used them only for few hours at most and in single head, low-res setups so can't really vouch for them.

  2. Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of all these GPUs... by aapold · · Score: 2

    well assuming there were a gallium or similar driver for them...

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  3. don't bother by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    30+ pages filled images or graphs. The gist of it: 3D capabilities of open source drivers still suck, and the newer cards suck worse.

    1. Re:don't bother by daid303 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The gist of it: 3D capabilities of open source drivers still suck

      No shit, did you really think a bunch of neckbeards on their mom's basements could do better than AMD (you know, the people who make the GPU)?

      If you look at linux on other areas, yes. Yes, then I think the basement dwellers would do better.

  4. 38 page click through article by RichMan · · Score: 2

    Yeah they deserve to be slashdotted for the design madness that multiplies readers by x38 or more.

    1. Re:38 page click through article by Thelasko · · Score: 3

      On the last page they mention the page layout was a response to all of the readers using Adblock. They note that you can pay a fee to see a single page article.

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  5. An Open Response to Moronix by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you did not make it through all of the pages, you can subscribe to Phoronix Premium so you can quickly scroll through all of the pages on a single page (and without any advertisements), so that you can draw your own conclusions about the state of open and closed-source Radeon Linux driver. (There also isn't much more of a conclusion since the large number of readers using AdBlock ruin it for the rest of you, since Phoronix.com is run single-handledly and funded entirely by advertisements and Phoronix Premium.)

    I am a proud AdBlock user. I think I speak for the rest of the AdBlock users when I say that if your publication cannot survive without annoying and intrusive advertisement, we would prefer that it go the fuck away and stop making an ugly hole in the internet.

    I hope Phoronix tanks, and soon. I prefer my articles in an essay format. For those of you who slept through elementary school, such a format involves an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Crying about how much it cost you to develop an article that people aren't willing to pay for is what losers do. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.

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  6. Re:38 pages by Sloppy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I realise it took a long time to do these tests and I realise that sites should be compensated in some way to justify their time and expenses. But 38 pages is taking the piss.

    The saddest thing about Phoronix is that even if you pay him it's still 38 ad-laden pages. That is, unless you remember to load the forum page first, before you RTFA. And he has known this for years (that's not an exaggeration), received numerous complaints from his paying customers about it (doesn't have the "I didn't know you people were unhappy" excuse) and still hasn't done anything about it.

    And I really mean "sad." That is the best word to describe it. It's a (minor! I'll admit!) tragedy in the original sense of the word. The site is basically a good idea and otherwise handled well (for what it's intended to do), but is dooming itself simply because the central character refuses to see the elephant in the room that everyone else sees.

    I don't hate Phoronix and will be sorry to see it go (tables of numbers have their place). And yet I'm probably not going to renew my support. Maybe its loss will make new room for the same niche, but with someone else handling this basic common-sense in-your-face aspect sensibly.

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